VIA Technologies Inc will unveil its x86 microprocessor and chipset strategy within the next two weeks. So far, it has been unclear how the company will use the very different x86 chip designs it acquired when it bought the Cyrix and Centaur units from National Semiconductor Inc and IDT Inc respectively.
There have been many contradictory rumors on the fate of the forthcoming ‘Gobi’ and ‘Mojave’ chips, especially after VIA fired 180 Cyrix staff two weeks ago. Asian news reports suggest that VIA has started to sample the Gobi and intends to launch the chip in the fourth quarter. The future of the Mojave project looks somewhat more barren. Postings on the web from disgruntled current and former VIA employees suggest that most of the job cuts fell on the Mojave team, although other postings vehemently dispute this.
VIA has been insistent that it will be retaining the well- regarded Centaur WinChip design team. However, the industry and analysts agree that VIA will have problems combining the Cyrix and Centaur x86 designs. One possibility is that VIA will market the Gobi design as a low-end chipset for desktops and use the extremely energy efficient WinChip design to launch a range of chipsets for laptops, set-top boxes and other internet appliances. รก
